Episode 146: Powerful Practice Culture with Judy Kay Mausolf

https://youtu.be/JmntpDcp6vo Tangible Steps You can Take to Build a Powerful Practice Culture The following podcast has been lightly edited for flow. To enjoy the audio conversation, you can watch on YouTube or listen to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, or Spotify. Carrie Webber: Welcome back to the Jameson Files. I'm your host, Carrie Webber, and it's such a pleasure to have all of you back with us. However you are watching or listening, please know that we're so grateful that you continue to be a part of the Jameson Files community. Today, I am very excited because we have with us a special guest. She is not only an incredible leader, speaker, and educator in the dental profession, but she's also a very dear friend. Judy Kay Mausolf is with us today, Judy Kay thank you so much for joining us. Judy Kay’s Journey to Becoming a Dental Culture Specialist Judy Kay Mausolf: Oh, I'm so excited to be here. And how fun! This is like church chat. Carrie Webber: That's exactly right. I have to imagine that most of you listening today are familiar with Judy Kay, but for those of you that may be new to Judy Kay. Judy Kay is a speaker and an author and a dental culture specialist who focuses on helping dentists and teams build their practice cultures, build their communication skills, their leadership skills, and really help to create what we at Jameson believe is the ultimate pursuit of creating a healthy work environment where we can all grow, thrive, and live out our purpose in a fulfilling way. And so today the goal is to talk about how we build a powerful practice culture. But first, Judy Kay, for those of you that might be new, I'd love for you to share just a little bit about your dental story. What was the road that has led you to be the nationally renowned speaker and educator that you are today? Judy Kay Mausolf: Well, first of all, thanks for all the kudos. I feel really good now. It’s wonderful. I started in dentistry in the early eighties and started with a very adventurous general dentist who believed in continued education and invested a lot in his team. I've always been blessed to work with dentists while I was in a practice administration role for 26 years–dentists who invested in me and the rest of the team. So I've been very fortunate in who I was able to pair up with as far as working together to create that.  When I decided to start my business, I thought there was only one way to go. You had to be a full-blown consultant, and that was what you did, and you did everything. And I worked hard, and I had everything established and was rocking and rolling, and I didn't like it. I was like, “This isn't what I thought it was.” And so I told my husband, Steve,”You know what, honey?  I'm gonna change this. I'm going to do what I refer to as culture camps, and I'm going to focus on the culture side. That's where my passion is. I just want people to have a better life, and I want them to live happier.” And he goes, “Do you think you could make money at that?” I go, “I think so.” Carrie Webber: Your hunch was true Judy Kay Mausolf: Yes. So I focus on that area because I found that I can't be an expert in everything. Right? And you have the beauty, Carrie, in Jameson in that you have multiple people with many different strengths to be able to deliver that. As an individual consultant or coach, it's very hard to be the best in all of those things, and so I found that my joy and my passion really was the relationship side of dentistry. So that's where I spend my time– in the playground of drama and tension and conflict and stress. And people go, “How can you do that? That's the stuff that drives me crazy.” But for me it's about creating avenues to get rid of all that, so that they can live in peace and create a safe haven where they work. Carrie Webber: We all know that to have a really successful and thriving practice, you need to have great systems. You have to have great skills. You have to have a high performing team backing up the doctor and helping to accomplish their goals. But we both know that that cannot happen if there’s a toxic work culture or if there hasn't been intention put into place into creating a healthy work culture and to really building up that type of environment, both from the leader themselves and the development of leadership within the team. So I can only imagine that that is that perfect spot that you fit into and the things that you work on with practices day after day.  With all of the practices that you've worked with, and provided culture camps for, and all the lectures you've done across the country, I would love to have your perspective. If someone's watching today or listening and wondering how their culture could be better, what do they need to be looking at? What are the obstacles getting in their way? Or what are the things that they need to start focusing on to help their practice get healthier in that respect? Toxic Practice Cultures Stand in the Way of a Productive Team Judy Kay Mausolf: Well, everything starts with leadership, right? The buck stops with them. It's what they do. It's how they lead, in essence, or it's what they allow or accept, right? Because if you're an owner doctor, you have the ability to change your culture by who you allow to stay or who you don't, right? And so, oftentimes, leaders will keep someone at the practice because their performance is good when it comes to patient care, and they turn it on for the doctor, but they're toxic to their coworkers. And I think one of the key things is that we don't make exceptions. I have a cardinal rule or expectation that we treat each other as well as we treat our patients. And there's no exclusions, no exceptions. And when we start to do that, all the toxicity goes away. Because if we wouldn't allow it with a patient, why would we allow it with the person who has our back every day, right? So it's starting with that. If you have team members where they feel like they're walking on eggshells– they're coming into the office feeling like that, or you as the doctor are coming in feeling like that.  I was just in Tennessee speaking this last week, and there were a couple doctors in my audience that were actually, in essence, feeling like they were being held hostage by an associate or by a key team player. And so it really is important to be very clear about what they want in their environment, and then not let fear drive their decisions to be something that's dysfunctional. Carrie Webber: You know, I've said before that I think I need to write an article on What if the Problem is me? So, when you think about that in particular, that there could be a leader or a person that's holding the practice hostage with toxicity, do you think there's an awareness disconnect that they could likely be the cause of some of the dysfunction that's preventing them from achieving their practice vision? Judy Kay Mausolf: I think in some cases there is. I've seen where people weren't connecting the outcome or the results to their actions. And I think that that's because it has more to do with focusing on what other people are doing versus any reflection for themselves. One of the things that I do when I'm working with my doctors is gently holding up a mirror to let them see their role in their practice. And I help them see what it is that they're contributing. And part of the conversation before we ever make an agreement to work together is that they need to be open to being the one that may need to change. And if they're not, I'm not there to fix their team, right? We're all in this together, and when we step across a threshold in our practice, we have to know what the expectations are. And that's driven by the owner doctors. That's their baby, right? So the owner doctors need to support that as well, or the results are going to be way less. Practical Steps to Take to Motivate Your Team Carrie Webber: On the other side of that coin, we hear a lot about team motivation and engagement. How do I get my team motivated? How do I get them engaged? I feel like I'm just talking to blank faces. No one seems to want to help us grow and thrive. What are some key pieces of advice that you would give practices that might be on today and would like help motivating their team? It's such an issue. It always has been, but I feel like even more so today with all of the issues in hiring and finding team and keeping team. Motivation and engagement seems to be challenging across the board for practices. 1. Hire an Adequate Amount of Team Members Judy Kay Mausolf: Well, I think there's multiple things that are involved in this. To address the current stage that we're at, it really has everything to do with not having an adequate amount of team members to take care of the patients that we're seeing. Many of them are struggling with having a full scheduled team, let alone then, when they do have them all hired, they don't all show up. And the world has changed. Before Covid, if you had a little bit of a sniffle or something like that, you still came in. Now you don't.  Carrie Webber: You don’t. That's right. Judy Kay Mausolf: And so you almost need spare parts. You almost need spare people because you're always running at a deficit, right? So, for simplicity, let's say you have 10 team members, but you're almost always running with eight, but you're scheduling to accommodate 10. So we have to be realistic. I always say, don't take my word for it. Look back on your schedule. How many days did you have a full staff? How many days were you actually able to operate on that? And if it's at 80% most of the time, then we may need to tweak. And I understand we want productivity, but we also don't want to burn out our loyal long-term team members as well. So we have to be a little flexible on the schedule. 2....